When making a purchasing decision a consumer may perform research into the products/services they are purchasing to evaluate many aspects of the purchase. For example, quality, longevity, pricing, return on investment and the suitability of a product/service for a specific purpose. This often requires the consumer to learn about the purchase and associated discourses through literature reviews, price comparison and product reviews—all of which can have varying degrees of relevance to any particular consumer. This process can require an amount of effort, learning and understanding that is not unsubstantial.
In order to make sound purchasing decisions, advice is often sought from an expert reviewer in the field. Existing methods for soliciting this advice leave areas to be desired.
Some consumers may have a friend/relative/acquaintance who is an expert reviewer in the field they are purchasing in and may have the opportunity to approach them for information and advice. However, this may not be the case for many. It may also not be the case that there is an expert reviewer in each required purchasing field within the consumer's immediate social network. There may also be a perceived and/or real burden associated with soliciting this advice as the topic can be complex, for example, giving prudent advice may require additional research on behalf of the advisor.
Personal shopping services exist where expert reviewers in particular fields charge consumers to perform market research on their behalf on the premise that the expert reviewer is more adept at traversing the information available. The expert reviewer will return the consumer with a number of options for purchase.
In most cases the expert reviewer is outside of the social network of the consumer and the level of trust bestowed by the consumer in this expert reviewer is limited as his or her credentials are not known personally to the consumer. Also, the expert reviewer has no vested interest in the success of the consumer's purchase and, should this expert reviewer advice be given via electronic communication, the potential for fraud is high.
In addition, these services can be expensive and are typically offered by merchants that are also selling the products being recommended for purchase. If this is not the case, if an expert reviewer recommends a product that the consumer purchases from a merchant and that product is not suitable, the consumer has no recourse to return the product to the merchant, and might then have to seek a refund from the expert reviewer—whose fees would typically dwarf the purchase made.
Should the advice be given by the merchant stocking the product, then consumer has recourse to return the product, but the advice of the merchant is subject to bias—to recommend the products the merchant stocks and to recommend the products on which the merchant makes the highest profit margin.
What is desired is a system that helps a purchaser identify and solicit purchasing advice from qualified individuals that the user can trust. It would also be desirable to have a system in that can facilitate the purchasing transaction
It is with respect to these and other considerations that the disclosure made herein is presented.